Creativity Lab Design Lead

Inspired by her family, Ayako is dedicated to working in the social and creative sectors. Her path led to DS4SI during a workshop for intercultural planners where Lori and Kenny's presentation on Spatial Justice blew her mind. Upon joining the team as a Design Intern, she assisted in the creation of Action Lab, which was the Design Studio’s first pop-up lab inside a national conference.

She studied Industrial Design at Rhode Island School of Design and received a Master of City Planning degree from Boston University. At RISD, she focused on design for social change, creating projects like furniture that played with human postures, and a new design education curriculum to include community engagement and human centered design as part of the pedagogy.

Before joining the studio, Ayako worked as a design consultant for Maternova, making informational graphics to assist midwives and doing material sustainability strategy for billboard waste at Lamar Graphics. She is committed to meeting people's needs and enhancing their experience through research and design thinking.